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A  CHRISTMAS  ADDRESS. 


Science  and  the  Elementary  Schools, 

DELIVERED  AT  A 

GENERAL  MEETING  OF  THE 
TEACHERS 

OF    THE 

Cleveland  Public  Schools, 


BY 

ANDREW    S.    DRAPER, 

Superintendent  of  Instruction. 


SATURDAY,  DECEMBER  i6th,  1893. 


PUBLISHKD  BY 

THE  BOARD  OF  EDUCATION. 


A  CHRISTMAS  ADDRESS. 


Science  and  the  Elementary  Schools, 

DELIVERED  AT  A 

GENERAL  MEETING  OF  THE 
TEACHERS 

OK    THK 

Cleveland  Public  Schools, 


BY 

ANDREW    S.    DRAPER, 
Superintendent  of  Instruction. 


SATURDAY,  DECEMBER  r6th,  1893. 


PUBLISHKU    BY 

THE  BOARD  OF  EDUCATION. 


Stack 
Annex 


A  Christmas  Address: 
SCIENCE  AND  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS 


THE  SCHOOLS  OF  ANCIENT  TIMES. 

The  modern,  free  elementary  school  has  had  a 
growth  and  extension  which  is  phenomenal.  It  reaches 
out  its  kindly  arms  unceasingly  and  farther  and  farther 
to  the  world's  children,  and  year  by  year  it  gains  in 
strength  and  power  and  completeness.  It  is  going  to 
be  the  world's  universal  civic  institution. 

The  ancients  maintained  schools  more  than  we  are 
accustomed  to  remember.  In  some  cases  they  were 
more  elaborate,  reached  higher  and  had  wider  range 
than  we  commonly  recall.  But  they  were  for  the  pur- 
poses of  the  king,  not  for  the  uplifting  of  the  people. 
The  instances  in  which  the  purposes  of  the  king  coincided 
with  the  interests  of  the  people  are  so  rare  that  they 
hardly  count.  The  kingly  power  under  one  name  or 
another  was  everywhere  present.  It  was  supreme.  Its 
foot  was  upon  the  neck  of  the  people  and  it  was  inexor- 
able. Its  ambition  was  the  perpetuation  of  the  dynasty. 
Ignorance  and  superstition  were  its  instruments  to  that 
end.  Such  schools  as  were  set  up  were  for  the  few  as 
against  the  many,  for  favored  classes  who  were  trained 


2O65685 


to  augment  the  power  of  the  king  and  forge  the  chains 
of  the  people.  When  the  arts  were  cultivated  it  was 
that  they  might  adorn  the  crown.  Brute  force  was  the 
power  that  controlled  the  race.  The  world  sped  on  in 
darkness  because  the  people  were  slaves. 

LIGHT  IN  THE  WORLD. 

But  light  broke.  It  was  heralded  by  a  new  star 
above  the  hills  of  Bethlehem.  The  world  will  never  fail 
to  commemorate  that  great  event.  In  memory  of  it  we 
suspend  all  our  ordinary  work  ;  we  give  ourselves  up  to 
mirth  and  gladness  ;  we  give  gifts  and  do  what  we  can 
to  make  our  friends  merry  and  carry  happiness  to  all 
who  are  about  us.  Upon  this  one  anniversary,  by  com- 
mon impulse,  the  world  comes  into  harmonious  accord  ; 
all  minds  dwell  upon  one  historic  scene  ;  all  feelings  are 
in  union  ;  all  instruments  of  music  are  in  one  key  ;  all 
the  people  sing,  and  all  the  silvery  bells  ring  out  the  Te 
Deum  and  the  Gloria  in  Excelsis  with  a  depth  of  feeling 
and  expression  unequalled  at  any  other  time  "Through 
all  the  circle  of  the  golden  year." 

It  is  the  noblest  way  in  which  Vt^  could  celebrate 
the  greatest  of  religious  anniversaries.  But  Christmas 
has  a  civic  as  well  as  a  religious  significance.  If  we 
were  to  observe  it  with  oration,  and  booming  cannon, 
and  martial  music,  and  marching  column,  it  would  not 
be  as  appropriate  an  observance,  but  it  would  not  be  an 
altogether  inappropriate  observance  of  the  day,  for  the 
birth  of  the  Savior  was  the  most  momentous  event  in 
civil  as  well  as  in  religious  history. 

It  brought  a  new  force  into  human  affairs  which  was 
destined  to  overturn  kingdoms  and  bring  the  plans 
of  kings  to  naught.  It  set  up  a  King  above  kings, 


whose  mission  was  the  uplifting  of  all  mankind,  whose 
plan  was  to  be  made  known  in  the  uttermost  parts  of 
the  earth,  for  whose  sake  men  and  women  were  to  go  to 
the  rack  and  the  scaffold  and  the  block,  in  whose  cause 
vast  armies  were  to  fight  and  so  prevail  as  to  change  the 
whole  current  of  human  affairs.  The  missionaries  of 
the  Cross,  in  the  market  places  and  in  the  wilderness, 
stirred  the  minds  as  well  as  the  hearts  of  men.  Persecu- 
tion by  the  kings  only  intensified  devotion.  .  The  blood 
of  the  martyrs  became  the  seed  of  the  church.  Thought 
was  set  in  motion.  It  was  the  plan  of  the  Almighty, 
and  it  was  irresistible.  Then  came  the  moving  of  the 
mighty  hosts  in  the  crusades  for  the  reclamation  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre.  They  failed  in  their  specific  object, 
but  they  accomplished  infinitely  more.  The  tread  of 
their  armies  reverberated  throughout  Europe,  set  the 
nations  all  in  action,  energized  thought  and  opened  the 
way  for  a  new  civilization.  Again,  it  was  in  the  plan  of 
the  Almighty,  and  it  was  irresistible. 

THE  DISCOVERY  OF  AMERICA. 

In  history  events  lead  on  to  consequences  with  un- 
erring and  majestic  tread.  The  movements  of  the  na- 
tions led  right  on  to  the  discovery  of  America,  another 
mighty  event  in  the  marvelous  plan  for  the  uplifting  of 
the  people.  It  became  a  practical  necessity  to  find  a 
water  route  to  the  Indies.  Reason  told  a  great  navi- 
gator that  it  could  be  found  by  sailing  westward.  Let  it 
never  be  forgotten  that  Columbus  sailed  on  the  faith  of 
an  idea.  -He  died  in  the  confidence  of  success,  but  in  a 
delusion,  for  Cathay  was  still  many  thousand  miles  away. 
But  what  a  glorious  delusion  it  was.  If  he  had  not 
reached  the  eastern  shores  of  the  old  world,  he  had  come 


upon  the  eastern  outposts  of  a  new  world,  and  next  to 
the  birth  of  Christ  he  had  accomplished  what  was  the 
most  momentous  event  in  human  history  if  it  is  to  be 
measured  by  its  influence  on  the  affairs  of  men. 

RESULTS  OF  THE  DISCOVERY. 

The  belief  that  the  long-sought  water  route  to 
the  Indies  had  been  discovered  and  that  the  products  of 
the  Empire  of  the  Grand  Kahn  could  be  brought  to 
Europe  in  ships,  sent  a  thrill  of  new  life  throughout  the 
land  and  gave  a  new  energy  to  the  thought  of  the  people. 
Marked  results  followed,  for  life  and  thought  will  have 
expression.  In  the  next  twenty-five  years  Luther  had 
nailed  his  ninety-five  theses  on  the  church  doors  at 

«/ 

Wittemburg  and  fired  the  sunrise  gun  of  the  Reformation. 
The  opening  epoch  was  to  be  a  bloody  one,  but  it  was 
to  witness  the  birth  of  liberty.  Nothing  moves  the 
people  like  religious  feeling,  Nothing  ever  did  move 
the  people  like  the  feelings  which  had  their  expression 
in  the  Reformation.  A  new  religious  and  intellectual 
development  was  everywhere  apparent,  but  was  most 
marked  in  Germany  and  in  Britain. 

It  was  more  than  half  a  century  after  the  discovery 
of  America  before  the  fact  became  known  that  the  land 
upon  which  the  great  navigator  had  come  was  not  China, 
but  a  new  and  independent  continent.  This  new  dis- 
covery was  not  a  disappointment.  It  made  the  achieve- 
ment of  Columbus  of  v  much  greater  consequence  than 
had  been  thought.  The  possibilities  of  this  new  fact 
had  no  limit.  In  its  turn  it  gave  added  activity  to  the 
life  and  thought  of  Europe.  Spain,  under  whose  patron- 
age this  great  achievement  had  been  accomplished,  at 
once  gained  great  importance  and  became  the  most  ag- 


gressive  and  warlike  nation  of  the  world.  She  had 
found  a  new  world,  and  it  impelled  her  to  attempt  the 
subjugation  of  the  old  one.  Her  government  was,  of 
course,  the  will  of  the  king,  and  her  policy  was  against 
liberty  of  thought  and  the  independence  of  the  people. 
She  very  naturally  directed  her  power  against  the  na- 
tions where  development  was  most  marked  and  intel- 
lectual emancipation  was  most  promising.  She  pushed 
her  armies  into  the  Netherlands  and  set  up  the  Inquisi- 
tion that  she  might  bring  to  her  feet  the  most  progress- 
ive people  of  Continental  Europe;  at  the  same  time  the 
granddaughter  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  one  of  the 
accidents  upon  the  English  throne,  and  the  doting  wife 
of  the  Spanish  king  who  both  controlled  and  hated  her, 
—the  weak  and  bloody  Mary,  began  the  horrible  work 
of  Spanishizing  Britain  with  flame  and  fagot. 

The  world-wide  battle  of  the  people  against  the 
king  was  now  on,  and  it  was  to  continue  to  a  finish. 
Moreover,  a  change  in  the  program  was  at  hand.  Kings 
and  queens,  as  well  as  subjects,  were  to  lose  their  heads. 
There  could  be  but  one  result.  Thought  is  all  powerful. 
The  truth  will  work  its  way  out.  An  overruling  power 
was  behind  it  all.  William  the  Silent  and  the  Nether- 
land  Republic,  Cromwell  and  the  English  Common- 
wealth were  inevitable.  So  were  the  American  Revolu- 
tion and  the  French  Revolution  and  all  the  other 
struggles  which  have  been  waged  and  all  the  triumphs 
which  have  been  gained  for  the  liberty  of  the  common 
people  and  for  intellectual  independence. 

THE  RISE  OF  COMMON  SCHOOLS. 

I  surmise  we  should  have  difficulty  in  finding  a  task 
more  fascinating  than  a  closer  study  of  these  mighty 


events  and  all  the  innumerable  array  of  other  events 
which  cluster  about  them,  and  also  of  their  relations  to 
the  conditions  of  our  modern  life,  and  particularly  to  the 
rise  and  growth  of  our  civil  institutions.  And  I  surmise, 
moreover,  that  the  more  we  study  the  more  we  will 
value  the  beneficent  institutions  under  which  we  live  and 
the  more  closely  we  shall  see  their  relations  to  the  great 
event  we  celebrate  at  Christmastide. 

The  life  must  be  long,  and  the  scholarship  thorough, 
and  the  labor  uninterrupted  and  assiduous  if  one  person 
is.  even  measurably,  to  accomplish  this  great  work. 
Men  and  women  who  do  it  but  partially,  though  thor- 
oughly, gain  great  prominence  in  the  field  of  historic 
literature. 

We  may  for  the  hour,  however,  take  one  of  these 
institutions  and  consider  a  single  phase  of  that.  It  is 
the  institution  with  which  teachers  are  most  familiar ;  it 
is  a  phase  suggested  by  the  Christmas  season  and  is  the 
natural  sequence  of  the  reflections  in  which  we  have  al- 
ready indulged. 

No  fact  is  clearer  in  history  than  that  common 
schools  followed  upon  the  overthrow  of  the  kings.  In 
some  lands  the  king  was  dead  before  the  king  knew  it. 
In  some  lands  he  is  dead  for  all  practical  purposes  long- 
before  the  people  understand  it.  But  in  no  land  have 
ffee  schools  for  all  the  people  preceded  the  practical 
overthrow  of  the  kingly  power  ;  in  no  land  have  free 
schools  been  long  deferred  after  the  power  of  the  king 
has  been  broken  or  has  been  surrendered,  or  has  become 
obsolete  by  disuse.  The  extent  and  the  character  of  the 
elementary  free  schools  of  a  people  measure,  with  con- 
siderable nicety,  their  preparation  for  civil  liberty  and 
the  extent  to  which  they  possess  and  exercise  it. 


In  Germany  free  elementary  schools  followed  im- 
mediately the  Reformation;  in  France  they  have  had  a 
most  phenomenal  and  scientific  growth  since  the  over 
throw  of  the  third  empire;  in  England  they  have  fol- 
lowed upon  the  growth  of  that  spirit  of  independent 
liberalism  which  is  well  represented  in  the  progress  of 
the  Liberal  party;  in  America  they  came  first  from  the 
Dutch  in  the  Old  Netherlands  with  the  Dutch  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Hudson  in  the  New  Netherlands,  then  with 
the  English  in  New  England  as  those  colonists  came 
more  and  more  to  oppose  the  power  of  the  king,  and 
they  spurted  into  being  everywhere  when  independence 
was  gained  and  self-government  was  completely  estab- 
lished. 

SCIENTIFIC  PROGRESS  IN  THE  SCHOOLS. 

In  all  countries,  and  particularly  so  in  this,  the  im- 
provement of  the  schools  has  been  gauged  by  the  intel- 
lectual strength  of  the  masses,  and  the  power  of  the 
people  to  obtain  that  which  they  are  able  to  see  that  they 
need.  And  in  turn  the  schools  have  helped  the  masses 
in  all  lands  where  they  have  been  established,  but  the 
extent  and  effectiveness  of  the  schools  has  been  in  exact 
proportion  to  their  advance  along  scientific  lines. 

WHAT  IS  SCIENCE? 

What  is  science?  Some  of  the  old  writers  called  it 
"  God's  sight,"  and  the  characterization  was  not  at  all  inap- 
propriate. Science  is  the  truth  of  the  Almighty  over- 
coming obstacles,  working  its  way  out  through  difficul- 
ties and  marching  on  to  its  final  triumph.  Science  and 
nature  and  Deity  are  very  nearly  the  same.  They  are 
in  full  and  harmonious  accord.  They  constitute  a  power 
which  is  everywhere  present  and  always  active.  No 


matter  about  any  peculiarities  af  our  personal  beliefs,  no 
matter  in  what  kind  of  a  church  we  worship,  or,  indeed, 
whether  we  worship  at  all,  there  is  not  one  of  us  that 
does  not  realize  the  existence  of  such  a  Power  in  the 
world  and  does  not  know  that  it  is  everywhere  present 
in  the  universe  and  that  it  is  always  active.  We  know 
that  it  controls  both  mind  and  matter;  that  flowers 
bloom  and  the  electric  current  flows,  and  minds  unfold, 
and  planets  revolve  and  keep  to  their  courses  under  its 
laws. 

Frequently  we  are  unable  to  understand  its  pro- 
cesses. Names  are  cumbersome.  The  language  of 
science  is  discouraging,  for  it  seems  unduly  involved  and 
unnecessarily  mysterious.  But  learning  and  research 
are  continually  helping  us.  How  much  has  been  re- 
vealed to  this  generation  which  has  been  withheld  from 
all  that  have  gone  before  it!  And  as  one  difficulty  after 
another  is  removed  and  one  achievement  after  another 
is  accomplished,  how  mysteries  are  explained,  how  re- 
mote facts  come  into  relationship,  how  the  harmonies  of 
the  universe  are  established  and  how  we  stand  in  the 
presence  of  the  mighty  Power  that  is  behind  it  all ! 

That  is  sometimes  called  science  which  is  not  science. 
In  reaching  from  the  known  into  the  unknown  there  is 
danger  of  letting  go  of  the  known  and  falling  into  the 
unfathomable  unknown.  There  is  intellectual  dissipa- 
tion for  some  in  contentions  which  no  one  can  establish 
and  no  one  can  overturn.  True  science  holds  on  to 
what  is  known  and  keeps  in  touch  with  what  is  material. 
It  is  intensely  practical.  Its  mission  is  not  to  involve 
in  mystery,  but  to  clear  up  the  sight  and  unlock  the 
truth. 


n 

HARMONY  WITH  SCIENTIFIC  KNOWLEDGE. 

We  have  lived  long  enough  to  know  how  vital  it  is 
to  our  happiness  and  our  usefulness  that  we  keep  in 
accord  with  the  Power  that  rules  the  universe,  and  that 
we  act  in  harmony  with  scientific  knowledge.  We  have, 
all  of  us,  experimented  enough  to  see  how  dangerous  it 
is  to  attempt  to  cross  the  boundaries  which  nature  sets 
against  human  action.  We  are  surely  experienced 
enough  to  understand  both  the  fascination  of  scientific 
study  and  the  vital  relation  of  its  results  to  the  uplifting 
of  the  human  race.  •  Human  laws,  which  merely  regu- 
late the  social  organization,  must  necessarily  differ  ac- 
cording to  the  circumstances  and  experiences  of  nations 
and  change  with  their  changing  conditions,  but  the  laws 
of  nature  are  universal  and  unchangeable.  The  human 
life  which  measurably  expands  to  its  possibilities  must 
read  the  book  of  nature  and  act  upon  its  precepts.  The 
life  which  does  this  is  enriched,  gains  capacity  for  enjoy- 
ment here  and  will  find  itself  in  harmonious  relations 
with  whatever  there  may  be  in  the  hereafter. 

SCIENCE  IN  THE  SCHOOLS. 

If  this  knowledge  is  of  consequence  to  the  indivi- 
dual so  it  is  to  the  school.  If  it  has  lifted  up  the  indivi- 
dual so  it  has  the  school.  If  it  has  brought  a  new  light 
into  the  life  of  the  individual  so  it  has  into  the  life  of 
the  school.  If  it  is  a  stairway  to  the  high  ends  of  human 
existence,  it  is,  of  course,  a  vital  element  in  the  curricu- 
lum of  the  schools.  Let  us  try  to  see  what  it  has  already 
done  and  how  much  more  it  may  do  for  the  schools. 

THE  SCIENTIFIC  SCHOOL-HOUSE. 
Science  is  evolving  a  scientific  house  for  the  use  of 


li 

the  schools.  Science  and  art  are  both  telling  us  things 
that  our  fathers  never  thought  of.  The  one  is  showing 
us  how  cultivated  taste  and  skill  can  make  a  building 
which  will  please  the  eye  and  train  the  aesthetic  taste 
for  the  same  money  that  was  expended  upon  the  un- 
sightly structure  of  the  last  generation,  and  experience 
has  shown  that  even  the  sense  of  the  child  is  strong 
enough  to  respect  and  care  for  it  if  it  is  pleasing  to  the 
eye  and  is  worthy  of  being  cared  for.  Art  has  shown 
that  no  school  authority  can  afford  to  ignore  its  entrea- 
ties. But  science  is  more  imperious.  By  consequences 
and  results  it  has  shown  that  no  school  authority  dare 
disregard  its  injunctions,  for  its  mission  is  to  conserve 
the  health  of  the  pupils  and  promote  the  effectiveness 
of  the  school. 

It  concerns  itself  with  the  character  of  the  ground 
upon  which  the  building  is  to  stand  and  the  conditions 
with  which  it  is  to  be  surrounded.  It  locates  the  build- 
ing with  reference  to  the  points  of  the  compass  and  the 
advantages  of  sun-light.  It  discriminates  in  material;  it 
puts  the  basement  floor  above  the  water  line ;  it  regulates 
the  height  of  stairs;  it  asks  for  sheltering  porches  and 
demands  that  outer  doors  shall  swing  outward.  Above 
all,  it  looks  to  the  size,  and  shape,  and  temperature,  and 
ventilation,  and  lighting  of  rooms.  It  says  that  the  good 
health  of  each  child  requires  at  least  twenty  square  feet 
of  floor  space  and  two  hundred  and  forty  cubic  feet  of 
air  space;  that  fresh  air,  right  from  the  outside,  is  even 
more  important  than  warm  air,  and  that  every  child  must 
have  at  least  two  thousand  cubic  feet  of  it  per  hour,  if 
the  necessity  of  re-breathing  the  same  air  and  the  con- 
sequent likelihood  of  disease  is  to  be  avoided.  Science 
prescribes  the  methods  for  getting  warm  and  fresh  air 


into  the  room  and  for  taking  dead  air  and  foul  gases  out 
of  the  room,  and  provides  the  instruments  for  determin- 
ing the  extent  to  which  it  is  accomplished.  Science 
looks  to  the  tinting  of  the  walls  and  takes  light  from  the 
ceiling  or  the  left  side  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  the 
eyesight  of  pupils.  Thus  sanitation,  hygiene,  and  also 
seats,  blackboards  and  innumerable  other  points  receive 
scientific  attention ;  these  serve  to  indicate  the  extent  to 
which  knowledge  is  evolving  a  healthful  and  pleasurable 
school  room.  Of  course,  the  perfect  building  has  not 
yet  come,  and  the  schools  have  many  old  buildings  on 
their  hands  which  they  have  inherited,  and  some  people 
are  slow  to  see  the  value  of  scientific  knowledge,  but 
when  we  compare  the  new  school-house  with  the  old  one 
and  know  that  no  intelligent  parent  will  longer  be  indif- 
ferent, and  no  intelligent  official  dare  be  indifferent  to 
these  things,  we  see  with  what  rapid  strides  the  light  and 
truth  have  been  advancing. 

THE  SCIENTIFIC  TEACHER. 

If  science  has  been  potent  in  the  improvement  of 
the  school-house  so  it  has  surely  been  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  teacher.  Fifty  years  is  a  brief  period  in  the 
history  of  education,  but  the  last  fifty  years  constitute  a 
period  which  will  be  memorable,  for  that  period  has  wit- 
nessed the  rapid  and  mature  development  of  the  science 
of  teaching,  and  that  development  has  worked  a  com- 
pkte  revolution  in  the  conduct  of  the  schools.  Our 
fathers  were  accustomed  to  think  that  any  one  who 
knew  a  thing  could  teach  it.  They  were  far  from  the 
truth.  Investigation  and  experience  has  shown  the  truth 
to  be  that  the  bare  possession  of  knowledge  is  but  one 
element  in  the  equipment  of  a  teacher.  He  must  know 


human  nature;  he  must  understand  the  particular  mind 
to  be  taught  and  be  able  to  come  into  harmonious  rela- 
tions with  it;  he  must  engage  its  attention,  arouse  its 
enthusiasm,  and  make  it  not  only  receptive  of  knowledge 
but  eager  for  knowledge  before  it  can  gain  knowledge 
which  will  give  it  strength.  A  mere  imitator  cannot  do 
this;  much  less  can  one  who  knows  nothing  of  scientific 
processes  and  is  not  even  an  imitator.  Pestalozzi  de- 
clared that  "  Education  is  the  generation  of  power." 
The  elements  of  power  must  exist  for  the  generation 
of  power.  The  teacher  must  understand  principles  and 
be  able  to  employ  the  best  methods  at  the  right  time 
and  in  the  right  way,  with  a  trained  and  discriminating 
judgment.  The  force  of  these  scientific  facts  has  but 
recently  come  to  be  apparent.  When  New  York  first, 
and  Massachusetts  a  little  later,  commenced  to  train 
teachers  for  the  common  schools  some  fifty  years  ago, 
it  would  be  supposed  that  it  was  pursuant  to  these  scien- 
tific truths;  but  quite  the  contrary  is  the  tact.  There 
was  even  then  no  recognition  of  them  whatever.  But 
the  light  broke  at  last.  To-day  there  is  no  movement 
in  progress  which  is  more  rapid  and  forceful  than  that 
towards  the  professional  preparation  of  the  teacher.  It 
is  true  that  the  general  public  scarcely  understand  it  yet. 
But  the  teachers  do.  The  entire  army  of  teachers  is 
under  its  influence  and  on  the  advance.  The  ones  who 
do  not  catch  the  spirit  will  have  to  go  upon  the  retired 
list  without  a  pension.  The  new  recruits  will  have  to 
meet  larger  exactions.  The  whole  force  is  moving  to  a 
higher,  because  a  more  scientific,  position.  The  world 
will  not  long  fail  to  respect  expert  knowledge  and  it  will 
not  fail  to  honor  artistic  work. 


15 

SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  CHILD-LIFE. 

Very  recent  years  have  witnessed  the  rise  of  a  new 
study — the  scientific  study  of  child-life.  The  World's 
Educational  Congresses  of  the  Columbian  Exposition 
afforded  the  opportunity  of  organizing  a  national  society 
for  securing  to  this  end  the  co-operative  efforts  of  physi- 
cians, ethnologists,  anthropologists,  psychologists,  par- 
ents and  teachers,  all  who  are  interested  in  children  and 
who  have  regard  for  scientific  truth.  The  work  has 
been  divided  for  convenience  into  four  classes:  First, 
the  embryo;  second,  infancy;  third,  school  life;  fourth, 
youth  to  maturity.  The  field  is  a  broad  and  fruitful  one. 
Teachers  should  be  ruminating  in  that  part  of  it  relating 
to  school  life.  Considerable  progress  has  already  been 
made.  Measurements  of  the  bodies  of  25,000  children 
in  Boston,  of  10,000  in  Milwaukee,  of  30,000  in  St. 
Louis,  and  of  many  other  thousands  in  other  cities  have 
been  taken,  and  from  these  measurements  many  inter- 
esting physiological  facts  have  been  deduced.  For  in- 
stance, it  was  found  that  until  the  age  of  eleven  or 
twelve  boys  are  taller  and  heavier  than  girls,  then  girls 
begin  to  grow  rapidly  and  for  the  next  few  years  surpass 
boys  both  in  height  and  weight,  then  again  the  boys 
overtake  them  and  remain  taller  and  heavier  ever  after. 
Rural  life  produces  larger  bodies  than  urban  life.  Chil- 
dren of  American  born  parents  average  larger  than 
those  of  foreign  born  parents.  It>seems  to  be  the  fact 
that  there  are  three  distinct  periods  of  growth,  viz. :  a 
moderate  increase  in  the  sixth  and  seventh  years,  a 
weaker  growth  from  the  ninth  to  the  thirteenth  years, 
and  a  much  greater  one  from  the  fourteenth  to  the  six- 
teenth years.  The  fact  seemed  to  appear  that  children 
grow  little  from  the  end  of  November  to  the  end  of 


16 

March,  and  much  between  August  and  November.  The 
fact  seems  also  to  develop  that  growth  focuses  first  upon 
one  set  of  organs  and  functions  and  then  upon  another. 
The  head,  eye,  hand,  arm,  chest,  voice,  have  periods  of 
decided  development,  which  are  not  coincident  in  the 
same  person.  All  this  calls  for  corresponding  recogni- 
tion in  making  up  the  curriculum  and  determining  the 
policy  of  the  school.  But  this  is  only  one  phase  of  the 
subject.  It  extends  to  muscular  control,  and  the  nerv- 
ous system,  to  the  hearing  and  the  sight,  and  to  all  the 
organs  and  functions  of  the  body. 

\t  extends  also  to  the  study  of  the  mind  and  to  con- 
ditions and  influences  which  affect  the  opening  and 
growth  of  the  same.  We  are  too  prone  to  forget  how 
many  things  which  are  very  common  to  us  are  sealed  to 
others  and  how  things  which  they  understand  perfectly 
are  a  mystery  to  us.  Surely  one  half  of  the  world  does 
not  know  how  the  other  half  lives.  In  1880,  Dr.  G. 
Stanley  Hall,  the  accomplished  president  of  Clark  Uni- 
versity, studied  a  large  number  of  children  who  had 
just  entered  the  beginners'  grade  of  the  Boston  schools. 
His  scientific  intelligence  is  established  and  the  reliabil- 
ity of  his  statements  cannot  be  doubted.  He  says  that 
fourteen  per  cent,  of  these  six-year-olds  had  no  idea  of 
the  stars,  thirty- five  per  cent,  had  never  been  in  the 
country,  twenty  per  cent,  did  not  know  that  milk  came 
from  cows,  fifty-five  per  cent,  did  not  know  that 
wood  came  from  trees,  thirteen  to  fifteen  per  cent,  did 
not  know  the  colors,  green,  blue  and  yellow,  by  name, 
and  three-fourths  of  all  had  never  seen  any  of  the  com- 
mon cereals  or  vegetables  growing.  Other  children 
would  know  all  about  these  things  but  would  be  ignor- 
ant of  matters  with  which  these  children  would  be 


I? 

familiar.  All  this  emphasizes  the  importance  of  the 
proper  treatment  and  suggests  methods  for  meeting  the 
conditions  which  are  presented. 

But  this  is  not  all.  The  span  of  the  memory,  the 
influence  of  the  imagination,  the  force  of  reason — all  of 
the  processes  of  the  child-mind;  the  trend  of  the  feel- 
ings, the  strength  of  the  attachments — all  the  natural 
likes  and  dislikes  of  children,  have  been  studied  with 
scientific  care  in  order  to  know  how  to  make  the  work 
of  the  schools  most  prolific  of  good. 

Of  course,  this  thing  may  be  overdone.  There  is 
great  possibility  of  error.  Facts  may  be  apparent  rather 
than  real.  Deductions  may  be  lame.  Logic  may  be 
spread  out  until  it  is  thin.  There  is  a  rich  field  for  ridi- 
cule. That  has  been  the  common  lot  of  science  in  all 
lands  and  all  ages.  Still  science  is  conquering  the  world. 
The  truth  keeps  working  its  way  out  and  marching  on. 
It  is  doing  so  with  majestic  step  in  this  case.  The  scien- 
tific study  of  the  child  and  the  scientific  training  of  the 
teacher  have  already  revolutionized  the  work  of  the 
schools  to  such  an  extent  that  a  plain  statement  of  what 
the  new  schools  are  doing  is  regarded  by  the  last  gener- 
ation with  disbelief  or  incredulity,  and  a  plain  statement 
of  what  the  old  schools  did  is  felt  by  the  new  genera- 
tion to  be  false  or  unfairly  exaggerated. 

MANAGEMENT  OF  CHILDREN. 

As  the  physicians  of  the  past  generations  gave 
physics  and  emetics  and  put  on  leeches  and  let  blood 
indiscriminately,  thus  breaking  down  the  constitutions 
they  were  employed  to  build  up,  so  the  teachers  of  past 
generations  fumed,  and  scolded,  and  strutted,  and 
thrashed,  and  so  humiliated  the  characters  they  were 


i8 

employed  to  uplift.  Occasionally  there  was  a  physician 
and  occasionally  there  was  a  teacher  with  a  clearer  vision 
than  the  rest;  occasionally  there  was  a  patient  with  a 
constitution  which  was  bound  to  outwit  the  doctor,  and 
occasionally  there  was  a  character  bound  to  outlive  the 
absurd  discipline  of  the  school. 

That  discipline  was  almost  uniformly  harsh.  The 
government  was  not  one  of  reason  but  of  force.  The 
teacher,  if  a  woman,  was  employed  in  the  summertime  to 
teach  the  girls  because  she  was  related  to  the  trustee,  or 
his  cousins,  or  his  aunts;  and  if  a  man,  was  employed  to 
teach  the  boys  in  the  winter,  because  he  had  superior 
strength,  agility  and  courage.  The  threatening  talk  and 
the  menacing  conduct  of  the  teacher  stirred  up  all  the  risi- 
bilities and  combativeness  of  human  nature.  The  teacher 
was  thought  great  by  the  people  if  he  could  conquer  the 
school  after  stirring  its  passions.  A  substantial  ferule 
was  always  in  sight.  Frequently  a  rawhide  whip  was 
kept  in  the  room.  Many  carried  a  rattan  in  the  hand 
continually.  Flagellations  were  of  every  day  occur- 
rence. Frequently  they  were  cruel  in  the  extreme. 
Struggles  and  blows  and  outcries  which  no  intelligent 
parent  of  our  day  would  permit  his  child  to  witness,  and 
from  which  he  would  either  turn  himself  or  which  he 
would  stop  by  force,  were  very  ordinary.  The  ingenu- 
ity of  the  teacher  was  taxed  to*  find  methods  and  instru- 
ments of  punishment.  Children  were  made  to  hold 
weights  at  arm's  length,  to  "sit  on  nothing"  with  the 
back  against  the  wall  and  the  feet  at  leg-length  there- 
from, or  to  do  anything  which  would  be  excruciating, 
humiliating  and  degrading.  If  they  flinched  they  were 
whipped  for  it.  To  make  the  thing  especially  obnoxious 
boys  were  sometimes  sent  out  to  get  whips  with  which 


19 

to  be  whipped;  and  sometimes  boys  who  were  not  in- 
volved in  trouble  were  sent  for  whips  with  which  to 
whip  their  brothers  or  associates,  in  order  to  make  the 
affair  particularly  unbearable.  These  things  seem  im- 
possible or  gross  exaggerations,  but  there  is  no  one  of 
them  which,  without  pleading  to  very  advanced  age,  I 
do  not  personally  remember. 

Of  course,  children  had  spirit  then  as  now,  and  that 
spirit, resented  and  organized  to  resist  this  stupid  bru- 
tality. Teachers  were  frequently  put  out  of  the  school 
house.  Life  and  death  struggles  between  the  school 
and  the  teacher  were  common,  Mr.  George  H.  Martin, 
who  would  certainly  make  no  unguarded  statement 
against  the  divine  attributes  of  the  people  of  Massachu- 
setts, says  in  his  recent  history  of  the  school  system  of 
that  State,  that  during  one  winter  more  than  three  hun- 
dred schools  were  broken  up  in  Massachusetts  by  the 
insubordination  of  pupils.  The  common  proceeding  was 
to  put  the  teacher  out  of  the  school-house.  The  old 
pedagogue  who  has  survived  is  inclined  to  boast  of  the 
fact  that  he  stayed  in  the  school-house  at  all;  it  is  the 
tallest  feather  in  his  plume. 

At  home  the  child  was  asked  not  what  he  did  in 
school  during  the  day,  but  whether  he  was  whipped. 
This,  with  "  chores  "  morning  and  afternoon,  with  the 
dearth  of  games  and  of  books,  and  with  brimstone  theol- 
ogy, in  allopathic  doses,  nights  and  Sundays  and  between 
times,  made  an  environment  which  was  not  well  calcu- 
lated to  ennoble  the  nature  of  the  child,  as  it  certainly 
was  not  likely  to  promote  cheerfulness  in  his  medita- 
tions. If  substantial  character  afterward  developed,  as 
it  very  frequently  did,  the  fact  was  due  to  other  circum- 
stances and  considerations  which  have  very  largely 


ceased  to  exist.  If  strong  manhood  followed  it  was  not 
because  of  this  harsh  and  senseless  disciplinary  treat- 
ment, but  in  spite  of  it. 

Fortunately  it  has  all  passed  away,  for  scientific 
study  of  the  secret  springs  of  human  motives  and  actions 
showed,  and  experience  proved,  that  such  a  plan  of  man- 
agement rested  upon  a  basis  which  was  wholly  fallacious, 
that  the  more  force  there  was  the  more  there  would 
have  to  be,  that  it  degraded  the  teacher,  that  it  set  up  a 
standard  of  excellence  in  the  minds  of  the  people  which 
was  utterly  false,  and  was  a  bar  to  the  fruitfulness  and 
effectiveness  of  the  teacher's  work.  It  brutalized  the 
school  and  absorbed  the  productive  energies  of  the  in- 
structor. It  put  the  child  out  of  teachable  relations  with 
the  teacher,  and  scientific  thought  would  not  have  it  so. 
It  was  against  nature;  it  was  opposed  to  the  truth;  and 
it  is  among  the  eternal  verities  that  nature  and  truth  shall 
have  their  way.  And  they  have  been  having  their  way, 
for  in  the  person  of  a  teacher  more  intelligent  and  better 
prepared,  they  have  appealed  to  the  reason,  the  affec- 
tions, the  ambitions,  the  honor;  they  have  made  study 
both  objective  and  attractive;  they  have  given  the  open- 
ing mind  the  pleasure  of  learning  things  and  accom- 
plishing things;  they  have  helped  and  inspired  and 
trusted,  until  they  have  brought  pupils  into  relations 
which  make  teaching  practicable  and  into  an  atmosphere 
where  teaching  must  be  a  thing  of  energy  and  power. 

SCIENTIFIC  TEACHING. 

If  science  has  done  much  to  improve  the  environ- 
ment and  the  management  of  the  school  it  has  done 
more  to  improve  the  instruction. 


21 


The  old  theory,  if  there  was  a  theory,  seems  to  have 
been  that  children  came  into  the  world  totally  depraved 
and  terribly  wicked.  They  must  not  be  allowed  to  do 
things  they  liked  to  do  for  their  ways  were  evil.  They 
must  not  be  permitted  to  follow  the  leadings  of  nature 
for  fear  they  would  get  in  the  habit  of  having  their  own 
way  and  be  spoiled.  The  way  which  was  the  longest, 
and  the  hardest,  and  the  most  unnatural,  was  the  way 
which  had  the  most  discipline  in  it,  and  was  therefore 
best  calculated  to  subjugate  them  in  this  world  and  edu- 
cate them  for  the  world  that  is  to  come.  Indeed,  that 
seems  to  have  been  the  aim  of  the  old  schools  and  the 
earlier  plan  of  education. 

The  new  education  proceeds  upon  an  entirely  dif- 
ferent theory.  It  starts  with  throwing  the  total  depravity 
hallucination  to  the  dogs.  With  Bryant  it  sings: 

"  Innocent  child  and  snow-white  flower 
Well  are  ye  paired  in  your  opening  hour, 
Thus  should  the  pure  and  the  lovely  meet, 
Stainless  with  stainless,  and  sweet  with  sweet." 

It  keeps  company  with  nature.  It  studies  to  learn 
what  the  truths  of  nature  are.  It  gains  the  support  of 
nature.  It  tries  to  assist  nature.  It  keeps  in  sympathy 
with  the  real.  It  sees  that  it  cannot  contravene  the  laws 

* 

of  the  Universe,  and  it  seeks  first  to  understand  and 
then  obey  them  and  make  the  most  of  them.  It  tries  to 
make  the  child  at  home  in  the  school  room.  It  utilizes 
his  natural  tastes  and  desires  and  fancies  for  his  improve- 
ment. From  the  Kindergarten  to  the  University  the  in- 
struction is  alive,  objective  and  natural.  The  Almighty 
has  implanted  in  every  human  being  admiration  for  the 
beautiful.  A  child  delights  in  a  flower  before  it  knows 
why.  Scientific  teaching  makes  the  most  of  that  fact  in 


22 


an  infinite  variety  of  ways.  There  is  no  fun  in  learning 
rules.  Some  children  cannot  do  it  at  all.  But  all  chil- 
dren like  to  do  things  and  to  show  their  handiwork. 
Scientific  teaching  does  not  try  to  overcome  that  fact, 
but  seizes  upon  it  and  applies  it  to  its  own  purposes  in 
innumerable  ways.  When  nature  is  allowed  to  have  its 
way  all  children  have  real  satisfaction  in  finding  out 
facts  and  like  to  lead  on  from  one  accomplishment  to 
another.  These  facts  are  the  basis  of  the  new  plans  of 
the  schools. 

Methods  have  been  thoroughly  reformed  on  a  scien- 
tific basis.  The  old  plan  commenced  with  the  alphabet 
and  the  book.  It  is  difficult  to  make  people  who  are 
past  middle  life  and  not  associated  with  the  schools  be- 
lieve that  children  can  be  taught  to  read  without  first 
learning  the  letters.  Yet  what  a  slow,  tedious,  wearing 
process  it  was!  The  new  plan  commences  without  either 
the  alphabet  or  the  book.  It  takes  the  child  before  he 
can  be  taught  to  read,  and  the  school  becomes  a  joy  and 
a  fascination  to  him.  While  it  gets  possession  of  him 
and  gains  his  confidence  by  methods  and  objects  which 
his  nature  cannot  resist,  it  exercises  his  muscles,  sharp- 
ens his  observing  and  perceptive  faculties,  and  starts  the 
habits  of  inquiry  and  investigation;  it  arouses  his  emo- 
tions and  directs  his  affections;  it  quickens  his  eye  and 
trains  his  hand;  it  develops  his  reason  and  stimulates 
his  moral  sense.  At  the  very  beginning  it  lays  the 
foundation  of  a  broad  character  and  establishes  habits 
which  make  intellectual  versatility  and  power. 

And  so  it  proceeds,  upon  a  harmonious  and  con- 
sistent theory,  with  all  the  subsequent  work  of  the 
schools.  With  processes  and  methods  which  are  scien- 
tific and  will  not  let' the  interest  flag,  because  true  to 


23 

nature  and  to  life,  it  leads  on  through  the  primary  school, 
and  the  grammar  school,  and  the  high  school,  and  the 
college,  and  the  university. 

The  old  essential  branches  are  taught  in  new  ways. 
The  child  learns  to  read  objectively.  He  learns  to  know 
words  and  sentences  at  sight,  as  he  learns  to  know  things 
at  sight.  He  learns  numbers  not  by  words  but  by  ob- 
jects, and  arithmetic  not  by  rule  but  by  demonstration. 
Geography  is  taught  objectively  and  by  real  or  imagin- 
ary journeys,  and  history  by  living  in  the  past  and  mov- 
ing with  the  scenes  as  they  transpired.  The  whole  plan 
considers  the  nature  of  the  child  and  uses  real  things  or 
fictions  which  are  true  to  nature  to  accomplish  its  pur- 
pose. 

The  Manual  Training  which  has  come  into  the  schools 
in  these  recent  years  and  is  being  co-ordinated  with  all 
the  other  work,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the 
course,  is  practical  and  adapted  to  the  new  circumstances 
of  our  active  life,  but  it  is  no  less  scientific  than  practical. 
Indeed,  if  it  were  not  scientific  it  would  not  be  practical. 
The  men  and  women  who  developed  the  material  re- 
sources of  the  land,  who  built  up  the  institutions  of  the 
Republic  had  their  childhood  in  an  age  which  did  things. 
Many  of  the  boys  were  country  boys,  who  cut  wood,  and 
broke  steers,  and  mended  harness,  and  made  their  own 
sleds;  others  who  lived  in  the  cities  came  from  homes 
where  poverty  was  the  inspiration  of  industry  and  inge- 
nuity, and  they  came  by  the  way  of  a  factory  or  a  shop. 
The  girls  learned  the  household  arts  at  their  mothers' 
side  and  contributed  their  share  toward  the  family  living. 
In  either  case  they  were  in  contact  with  things  and  were 
where  they  had  to  use  their  hands.  It  was  more  of  a 
privilege  than  they  then  thought,  for  it  contained  the 


elements  of  intellectual  growth  and  of  sturdy  manhood 
and  womanhood  even  more  than  of  manual  dexterity. 
These  privileges  are  largely  denied  the  youth  of  our  day, 
and  scientific  thought  has  discerned  this  deficiency  and 
reasoned  what  the  consequences  would  be.  It  has  reme- 
died the  loss  in  a  way  which  brings  new  interest  into  the 
schools  and  strengthens  all  the  other  lines  of  their  work. 

Further  investigation  would  bring  out  many  other 
and  perhaps  more  important  facts  in  proof  of  the  scien- 
tific improvement  of  the  schools,  but  even  this  super- 
ficial and  imperfect  examination  shows  how  through  all 
the  discussion  and  the  experimentation  of  these  recent 
years  the  truth  has  been  making  its  way  to  the  surface 
and  the  schools  have  been  settling  down  gradually  and 
surely  to  systematic  lines  of  work  which  are  in  harmony 
with  the  laws  of  nature,  and  therefore  lead  on  directly 
and  irresistibly  to  the  higher  ends  of  human  existence. 
Of  course,  we  are  not  yet  at  the  sun-rise  of  the  Millenium 
morning.  But  we  are  making  headway  in  that  direction. 
We  surely  find  clearer  foresight,  a  more  consistent  theory 
and  greater  definiteness  of  purpose  in  the  schools.  They 
are  fitting  for  this  life,  and  that  is  a  good  step  on  the 
road  towards  preparation  for  the  life  that  is  to  come. 
They  aim  at  intellectual  versatility,  at  productive  power, 
at  discriminating  judgment,  at  substantial  character  and 
sound  citizenship.  They  can  hardly  be  charged  with 
more.  Their  plans  show  greater  maturity  and  more 
uniformity  and  solidity.  All  is  not  chaos.  An  educa- 
tional system  is  being  evolved. 

Some  things  have  become  settled  and  established  in 
the  organization  and  the  work  of  the  schools.  No  care- 
ful observer  of  the  Educational  exhibit  at  the  Columbian 
Exposition  could  fail  to  note  how  all  the  progressive 


25 

educational  work  of  the  world  was  settling  down  upon  a 
basis  of  scientific  truth,  and  no  reflective  observer  could 
fail  to  think  how  much  farther  this  movement  had  gone 
in  the  universe  of  thought  which  could  not  be  illustrated 
in  a  material  exhibit  than  in  the  world  of  things  which 
could  be  so  presented.  f 

THE  STUDY  OF  THE  SCIENCES. 

It  remains  to  be  said  that  the  schools  have  not 
only  been  molded  and  directed  by  scientific  thought  in 
these  later  years  to  an  unprecedented  degree,  but  the 
schools-^-the  common  schools,  the  elementary  schools 
—are  commencing  the  direct  study  of  the  sciences  as 
never  before.  It  is  not  so  very  long  ago  since  this  kind 
of  study  was  monopolized  by  a  few  students  who  led  a 
secluded  life  and  acquired  a  world-wide  renown.  It  was 
surrounded  by  mystery.  It  dazed  the  incredulous  and 
stirred  the  superstitious.  But  the  truth  was  bound  to 
expand.  It  came  into  the  colleges  and  then  into  the 
secondary  schools.  No  one  thought  of  its  going  farther. 
But  it  was  bound  to  march  on.  It  has  come  into  the 
elementary  schools.  In  Cleveland  it  has  this  year  been 
introduced  into  the  regular  course  of  the  grammar  grades. 
A  little  equipment  of  scientific  apparatus  and  appliances 
— scales  and  measures,  glass  tubing  and  acids,  lenses 
and  mirrors,  magnets  and  iron  filings,  flasks  and  spirit 
lamps — have  been  supplied,  at  inconsiderable  cost,  to 
every  building.*  The  equipment  is  not  extravagant,  and 
there  is  no  occasion  for  it  being  so.  The  beginning  is 

*The  Course  of  Study  and  Assignment  of  Work  prepared  in  the  summer  of  1893,  for 
the  guidance  of  the  Cleveland  Schools  during  the  ensuing  year,  abridged,  not  the  funda- 
mental principles  and  processes,  but  the  details  of  the  Arithmetic  work,  enlarged  upon 
the  Nature  Studies  in  all  the  grades  and  introduced  the  simpler  Physical  Sciences  into 
the  grammar  grades.  Even  before  that  a  light  line  of  History  had  been  commenced  in 
the  third  and  fourth  grades,  and  it  was  then  continued  through  the  fifth  and  sixth 


26 

small,  and  there  is  no  idea  of  enlarging  it  out  of  advis- 
able proportions.  But  the  work  is  fascinating  and  brings 
new  interest  into  the  schools.  It  promises  all  that  the 
Association  of  New  England  Colleges,  under  the  lead  of 
the  President  of  Harvard,  claimed  for  it  when  they  moved 
in  advocacy  of  the  plan.  » 

The  present  age  is  a  material  and  scientific  one.  It 
is  unlike  any  which  has  preceded  it.  It  did  not  come  by 
conquest.  It  broke  upon  us  as  quietly  as  the  dawn  of  a 
summer  morning.  It  has  witnessed  a  new  love  for 
nature  and  an  added  interest  in  her  wonderful  secrets 
and  processes.  It  is  an  age  of  searching  inquiry  and 
close  discussion.  The  false  and  the  sham  will  be  re- 
vealed; that  which  cannot  stand  discussion  will  go  to 
the  wall;  the  truth  will  work  its  way  out.  It  is  not  only 
an  age  of  demolition  but  one  of  accomplishment.  It  is 
an  age  of  material  development,  for  it  is  an  age  of  con- 
structive genius.  It  is  an  age  of  intellectual  energy,  for 
it  is  an  age  of  disciplined  thought.  It  is  essentially  an 
age  of  scientific  knowledge  and  scientific  power. 

Science  is  the  interpretation  of  Nature.  But  nature 
is  manifest  in  the  butterfly,  the  squirrel  and  the  robin, 
as  well  as  in  the  mammoths  of  the  deep  or  the  masto- 
dons of  the  ancients;  it  is  in  the  opening  blade  and  the 
blooming  flower  as  well  as  in  the  burning  mountain  and 

grades,  this  study  having  been  in  the  past  a  part  of  the  seventh  and  eighth  grade  work 
only.  The  Geography  work  had  already  been  put  upon  lines  which  lead  into  the  fields 
of  the  separate  sciences,  but  it  was  carefully  revised  and  enlarged  in  the  same  direct  inn. 
Phases  of  Manual  Training  were  also  introduced  into  all  the  elementary  grades.  The 
best  English  literature  had  been  previously  used  to  some  extent  in  the  seventh  and 
eighth  grades  as  supplementary  reading  matter.  With  the  revision  of  the  Assignment 
the  work  was  enriched  and  carried  back  so  as  to  commence  with  the  fourth  grade  and 
reach  forward  and  meet  the  same  work  in  the  seventh.  Thus  nearly  or  quite  all  of  the 
leading  recommendations  of  the  Committee  of  One  Hundred  of  the  National  Educa- 
tional Association,  so  far  as  the  work  of  that  Committee  referred  to  the  curriculum  of 
the  elementary  schools,  had  been  anticipated,  Wut  the  complete  and  authoritative  en- 
dorsement of  the  changes  made  in  Cleveland  which  comes  in  the  report  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  One  Hundred  is  very  gratifying. 


27 

the  blinding  storm;  it  is  in  the  rocks  and  shells  as  well 
as  in  the  invisible  current  which  drives  the  machinery  of 
our  factories  or  that  other  invisible  force  which  propels 
the  machinery  of  our  lives.  There  is  science  for  the 
child  as  well  as  science  for  the  savant.  The  activity 
ol  the  child  and  the  wisdom  of  the  scholar  each  have 
their  uses  in  unfolding  the  secrets  of  science. 

"  We  have  a  secret,  just  we  three, 
The  robin  and  I  and  the  sweet  cherry  tree, 
The  bird  told  the  tree,  and  the  tree  told  me, 
And  nobody  knows  it  but  just  us  three." 

There  is  joy  and  fascination  in  nature,  for  the  nature 
that  is  about  us  is  in  harmony  with  the  nature  that  is 
within  us. 

"  There's  a  blush  on  the  fruit  and  a  smile  on  the  flower 
And  a  laugh  on  the  brook  as  it  runs  to  the  sea." 

There  is  moral  power  in  science.  Who  can  see  a 
dozen  magnetized  needles,  floating  on  corks  in  a  basin 
of  water,  repel  each  other  and  range  themselves  at  equal 
distances  apart  and  remain  in  exact  equilibrium  so  long 
as  the  similar  poles  are  all  pointing  up  or  down  and  then 
see  the  dirturbance  and  the  clashing  which  ensues  when 
one  of  them  is  reversed,  without  thinking  of  what  is  be- 
hind all  this?  Who  can  see  the  earth  turn  under  the 
swinging  pendulum  without  knowing  that  this  did  not 
come  by  accident  or  chance,  and  without  revering  the 
Power  which  controls  this  motion  and  holds  the  spheres 
upon  their  courses? 

There  is  intellectual  awakening  in  the  study  of 
science.  "No  one  can  engage  in  it  without  acquiring  the 
habit  of  inquiry  and  investigation;  no  one  can  be  under 
its  spell  without  thought  which  is  original;  and  these  are 
the  principal  instrumentalities  of  the  new  education. 


28 

Scientific  investigation,  above  almost  any  other 
work  that  can  be  taken  up  in  the  school  room,  is  promot- 
ive  of  cordial  relations  between  teacher  and  pupil.  They 
work  together  for  a  common  end — and  that  end  is  the 
truth.  They  are  in  harmony  with  a  common  object,  and 
therefore  in  harmony  with  each  other.  The  tension  is 
removed,  the  problem  of  management  is  reduced  in  its 
proportions  if  not  entirely  eliminated,  and  teachable 
relations  are  established  between  teacher  and  child,  and 
enthusiasm  carries  them  on.  Then  we  begin  to  realize 
how  much  more  may  be  accomplished  when  instructor 
and  pupil  help  each  other,  than  when  indifference  pre- 
vails, or  when  they  wear  each  others'  lives  with  bitter- 
ness, or  mechanically  observe  only  the  requirements  of 
an  armed  truce. 

Then  the  study  of  the  simpler  sciences,  experiment- 
ally and  in  the  methods  of  the  laboratory,  is  both  prac- 
ticable and  essential  at  an  early  age,  and  will  promote 
the  work  of  the  schools  both  directly  and  by  reflex  and 
stimulating  influence  on  the  school  organization,  on  the 
betterment  of  the  building,  on  the  growth  of  the  teacher, 
on  the  temperament  of  the  pupils,  and  on  all  the  lines  of 
work  in  which  the  schools  engage. 

THE  SCHOOLS  AND  THE  PEOPLE. 

The  schools  must  be  kept  in  touch  with  the  life  of 
the  people.  That  life  is  broader  than  it  used  to  be.  It 
is  greater  in  volume  and  the  current  is  swifter  than  in 
the  days  of  our  fathers.  Interests  and  employments  have 
multiplied  many  fold.  Methods  have  changed.'  Energy 
has  intensified.  Intelligence  has  broadened  marvelously. 
/Esthetic  taste  has  grown.  The  life  of  the  people  has 
followed  the  leadings  of  nature.  Nature  is  not  depraved. 


29 

It  does  not  lead  the  great  mass  the  wrong  way.  This 
may  not  be  wholly  within  the  limits  of  old-time  theo- 
logical dogma;  then  dogma  may  have  to  suffer  some 
amendments.  It  is  easier  to  change  what  men  have 
written  than  to  turn  the  mighty  current  of  human  life 
from  its  channel.  In  any  event,  the  life  of  the  world  has 
has  been  liberalized.  The  truth  is  being  liberated. 
Eighteenth  century  schools  will  not  fit  twentieth  century 
life.  The  mathematical  drill  alone  of  the  old  schools 
will  not  suffice  for  the  new.  Training  which  answered 
for  the  narrow  life  of  the  past  would  be  wholly  inade- 
quate for  the  swelling  life  of  the  present  and  the  future. 
The  schools  must  train  for  intellectual  alertness.  The 
schools  cannot  specialize.  They  may  incidentally  train 
artists,  they  may  incidentally  train  mechanics,  they  may 
incidentally  train  engineers  and  diplomats;  they  must 
surely  train  thinkers  They  must  train  all  the  children 
of  the  people  so  that,  within  personal  circumstances  and 
inclinations,  all  will  have  an  equal  chance.  As  the  mass 
will  not  remain  through  the  whole  course,  because  their 
labor  is  necessary  for  bread,  as  the  more  a  child  is 
trained  the  better  he  can  think  and  do  and  take  care  of 
himself,  the  schools  must  put  the  most  care  upon  the 
work  of  the  first  years.  From  the  first  year  to  the  last, 
the  work  must  rest  upon  a  scientific  basis  and  be  in  the 
hands  of  artists  if  they  can  be  procured  or  developed. 
It  must  be  of  a  nature  and  it  must  employ  methods 
which  will  germinate  intellectual  versatility  and  power. 
In  healthful  co-operation  with  the  church  and  the  home, 
the  school  must  train  for  manly  and  womanly  character 
and  independence.  Then  as  the  river  gains  strength 
and  impetus  and  majesty  from  tributary  streams  as  it 
runs  to  the  sea,  so  will  the  mighty  current  of  human  life 


30 

be  enriched  and  energized  by  the  work  of  the  schools  as 
it  runs  on  to  that  final  destiny  where  life  and  nature  and 
the  truth  will  be  in  entire  harmony  and  accord. 

CONCLUSION. 

Three  hundred  and  sixty-five  thousand  teachers  in- 
struct fourteen  millions  of  children  in  the  Public  Schools 
of  the  United  States.  There  are  many  other  thousands 
in  the  schools  of  the  other  constitutional  governments 
of  the  world.  The  elementary  free  school  is  indeed  be- 
coming universal  and  the  teaching  fraternity  world-wide. 
No  army  in  the  world  holds  greater  power  in  its  hand. 
Upon  no  other  does  so  much  depend.  If  this  great 
fraternity  will  think  upon  the  movements  of  the  dead 
centuries  toward  a  higher  life;  if  it  will  keep  in  sympathy 
with  nature;  if  it  will  seek  a  clearer  understanding  of  the 
leadings  of  the  overruling  power  in  the  world;  if  it  will 
have  a  larger  interest  in  scientific  study;  then,  it  will 
have  a  deeper  reverence  for  scientific  truth;  it  will  real- 
ize the  assurance  of  Coleridge  that  "as  we  strive  to 
ascend  we  will  ascend  in  the  striving;"  it  will  see  an  un- 
wonted meaning  in  the  words  of  a  greater  than  Cole- 
ridge who  said,  "And  ye  shall  know  the  truth  and  the 
truth  shall  make  you  free;"  and  itwill  have  added  power 
in  the  schools  as  it  will  have  added  joy  in  the  time- 
honored  recurrences  of  the  Christmas  season. 


Ce 

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